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UC Santa Cruz student charged with murdering mom

Rosemary Badiali, right, was murdered by her son, left, according to police.

SOURCE: Hayward Police Dept. / Facebook

UC Santa Cruz student charged with murdering mom

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Updated: 4:25 PM PDT Oct 8, 2014

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (NBC Bay Area) —

A University of California at Santa Cruz student was arrested and accused of stabbing his mother in the head at her home in Hayward. Police said the murder weapon was a pair of scissors.

Joseph Badiali, 20, was arraigned on murder charges in Alameda County Superior Court in Hayward Tuesday. Prosecutors also charged Joseph Badiali with three counts of cruelly wounding an animal for allegedly killing three Chihuahua dogs at the residence.

Hayward police Officer Ryan Sprague said a neighbor called police after Joseph Badiali's grandmother fled to his house.

When Officer Sprague arrived at the scene, he said he found Joseph Badiali in the middle of the street with blood on his hands, legs and shorts, and he arrested him.

According to police, when an officer asked where his mother was, the UCSC student said, "She's gone." When the officer asked for an explanation, Joseph Badiali replied, "She's dead."

Officers then searched the residence and found the mother lying in a pool of blood at the back of the house, according to Sprague. She was face down and had multiple stab wounds to her head, Sprague said. Hayward firefighters pronounced her dead at 7:10 p.m. on Saturday, he said.

Three dead dogs were found in the backyard, according to Sprague. The dogs had also been stabbed in the head.